软体翻转机器人中通过壁面回缩和可展开手指的尖端操控
Tip Manipulation in Soft Everting Robots via Wall Retraction and Deployable Fingers
- Harvard University（哈佛大学）
- Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna（圣安娜高等研究院）
机构由 AI 辅助整理，请以论文原文为准。
AI总结：
本文提出一种基于壁面回缩和可展开手指的软体翻转机器人尖端操控策略，实现多工具部署与自适应抓取，支持三维操控和受限空间检查。
AI中文摘要：
软体翻转机器人能够通过持续生长穿越长距离、受限的路径，但其主动交互仍局限于固定在尖端或尖端附近的单一工具，无法按需重新定位，且难以与机器人的软体本体相协调。我们提出了一种基于壁面回缩的软体翻转机器人尖端操控与多工具部署策略，该策略通过一个基座辊组件实现，该组件独立控制外层壁面的薄膜流动，同时尾部卷轴调节内部尾段的生长。壁面与尾部的协调驱动将机器人长度与薄膜位置解耦，使得安装在薄膜上的设备能够被运输、暴露并在靠近远端尖端的选定位置重新定位。我们将这一能力与集成在薄膜中的超轻褶皱充气手指相结合，该手指由涂覆TPU的尼龙制成，内部带有气密气囊。手指在低压下（高褶皱设计中约50 kPa时弯曲约100度）实现大角度弯曲，并产生高达1.9 N的阻挡力，同时在运输过程中保持柔软。该系统展示了跨多种日常物体的自适应抓取（21至550克；16至200毫米）、三维物体操控与堆叠、环境支撑下的伸展、用于受限空间检查的远端摄像头摇摄，以及受控的序列化载荷递送。这些成果使得软体生长机器人在杂乱和曲折环境中实现具身化且可逆的尖端操控成为可能。
英文摘要：
Soft everting robots can traverse long, confined paths by continuously growing, yet active interaction remains limited to a single tool fixed at or near the tip, unable to be repositioned on demand and difficult to reconcile with the robot's soft body. We introduce a tip-manipulation and multi-tool deployment strategy for soft everting robots based on wall retraction, implemented with a base roller assembly that independently meters membrane flow in the outer wall while a tail spool regulates growth in the internal tail section. Coordinated wall and tail actuation decouples robot length from membrane-material position, enabling membrane-mounted devices to be transported, exposed, and repositioned at selected locations near the distal tip. We pair this capability with ultralight pleated inflatable fingers integrated into the membrane, fabricated from TPU-coated nylon with an internal airtight bladder. The fingers achieve large bending at low pressures (approximately 100 degrees at 50 kPa in high-pleat designs) and generate blocking forces up to 1.9 N, while remaining limp during transport. The system demonstrates adaptive grasping across diverse household objects (21 to 550 g; 16 to 200 mm), three-dimensional object manipulation and stacking, environmentally braced extension, distal camera panning for confined-space inspection, and controlled sequential payload delivery. These results enable embodied and reversible tip manipulation for soft growing robots in cluttered and tortuous environments.
